Tag: productivity

How do we move forward in the ‘new economy’?

How do we move forward in the ‘new economy’?

New laws on free public Internet access (Republic Act [RA] 10929) and free-education tuition (RA 10931) have been getting ample exposure, as the current administration seeks to advance its agenda for inclusive development. While these are notable steps toward efforts to boost prospects for economic growth through enhancing productivity and strengthening competitiveness, there are more significant technological shifts already reshaping our lives at breathtaking speed.

In 2016 World Economic Forum (WEF) founder Professor Klaus Schwab has written the book entitled The Fourth Industrial Revolution about the fusion of new technologies in mainstream discussion. He asserts that “there has never been […]

Minimum Wage Hikes and Automation Risks

Minimum Wage Hikes and Automation Risks

A couple years ago, I wrote , Other studies show that an increased minimum wage causes firms to incrementally move toward automation. Now, this too could be seen as a trade-off: automation and technological progress tend to make processes more efficient and therefore increase productivity (and eventually wages ), raising living standards for consumers (which include the poor). Nonetheless, the point is that while unemployment in the short-term may be insignificant, the long-term effects could be much bigger. For example, one study finds that minimum wage hikes lead to lower rates of job growth: about 0.05 percentage points a […]

Australia Needs to Embrace Automation to Survive

Australia Needs to Embrace Automation to Survive

Automation needs to be utilised by Australia if we’re to compete in the global economy.

The automation of the working world is often viewed with a negative run-on effect – people lose their jobs, industries are completely disrupted and robots eventually take over. Technological disruption has created new jobs – social media managers, for example. A recent report refutes all this fear-mongering, however, noting that Australia would actually be better off if we embraced automation rather than shying away from it.

‘The Automation Advantage’, published last week by AlphaBeta and commissioned by Google Australia, argues that automation could be the key […]

Labour force concerns over rise of robots in Asia

Labour force concerns over rise of robots in Asia

Young engineer using a tablet computer to control an automated robot machine in an Asian industrial factory | Zapp2Photo/Shutterstock The old question of whether China would “get old before it becomes rich” is being superseded by an even more pressing calculation.

Will Asian workers become obsolete before they get worthwhile jobs?

Robotics, automation and artificial intelligence are making industrial manufacturing jobs redundant, and with them the classic road map of how a developing economy progresses from peasant agriculture to a self-sustaining, middle class state.The conundrum is an immediate concern in India, which is beginning to embrace manufacturing in the way China […]

New study finds that minimum wage hikes are great news for robot workers

Back in 2014, I wrote a post that asked, “Why are minimum wage proponents dismissing automation risk?” I just wasn’t getting a sense from the “Fight for 15” crowd that it had thought much about the possibility that dramatically raising the minimum wage might worsen the competitive position of low-skill humans versus machines. Members of the audience cheer as they listen to speakers at a union rally for higher minimum wages in New York, January 4, 2016. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson Or maybe it had, but the politics were so tantalizing that they took precedence over sound policy. My conclusion back […]

Robots Gain from Higher Minimum Wage

Robots Gain from Higher Minimum Wage

America has not yet seen waves of widespread job loss due to automation. The U.S. economy created 209,000 jobs in August to continue its long streak of positive job creation, and the unemployment rate is down to 4.3 percent. Productivity growth remains sluggish , which would not be the case if more efficient machines were replacing droves of workers.

The lack of an aggregate effect on the labor market does not mean automation has not affected the labor market at all.

A new working paper by Grace Lordan of the London School of Economics and David Neumark of the University of […]

85% of broker workload ‘immune’ to automation

85% of broker workload ‘immune’ to automation

Just 15 per cent of broker tasks are susceptible to automation, placing brokers on the lower end of the risk spectrum, AlphaBeta has said.

Andrew Charlton, director at the management consulting firm, told The Adviser that 15 per cent of the work brokers currently do is susceptible to automation and that, while automation implies change, “it doesn’t necessarily imply job loss”.

The AlphaBeta report titled The Automation Advantage , released in August, found that machines will "unburden" the average Australian worker of two hours of the “most tedious and manual” tasks a week over the next 15 years.The report, led by […]

The Trump Administration Needs to Consider These Factors When Reviewing National Defense

The Trump Administration Needs to Consider These Factors When Reviewing National Defense

IJR Opinion is an opinion platform and any opinions or information put forth by contributors are exclusive to them and do not represent the views of IJR.

Last month, President Trump ordered a review of the national defense industrial base. The topic often gets interest on the Hill, and occasionally from secretaries of defense, but this effort marks the first major executive review.

This necessary effort will assess the means of wartime production, ability to produce in times of crises, and possible supply chain disruptions – domestically or internationally. Conversations with administration officials indicate the purpose is a strategic study of […]

Don’t Worry – Overall Employment Levels May Not Be Affected By Self Driving Vehicles.

Don't Worry - Overall Employment Levels May Not Be Affected By Self Driving Vehicles.

Shutterstock photo It is interesting to ponder the economic affects of autonomous (self driving) vehicles. A recent study claims by 2030 " the average American family will save more than $5,600 per year in transportation costs, equivalent to a wage raise of 10% ."

The study is fairly exhaustive listing many economic impacts – with well over half the impacts relating to job losses and oil sector demand reduction. Even many of the positive affects are double edged – such a productivity improvements which are good for business but not good for employment (all things being equal). One can argue […]

Is Skynet really coming for our jobs?

Cross-posted from Independent Australia :

It’s almost scary to think that the world as we know it may well be run by Artificial Intelligence ( AI ) one day.

While the risk of an imminent AI disruption of the labour market may sound like a fantasy, those with the most advanced AI technologies at hand think that AI is an imminent threat. They say an Industry 4.0 or cyber physical systems ( CPS ) revolution is coming whether we like it or not. Is this really true?AI in the labour market means the use of intelligent software to […]